Vivian Berkeley
Vivian Berkeley (born August 9, 1941) is a Canadian blind lawn bowler, 1996 Paralympic silver medalist.[1] Berkeley is the #1 ranked women's singles B1 blind lawn bowler in the world.
Career
Berkeleys' Lawn Bowling career has span over 30 years, beginning in the late 1980's. Vivian started off playing at the Rockway Lawn Bowling Club in Kitchener, Ontario. However this club closed its doors in the late 1990s to make room for the expansion of its golf course. The following year, a new local Lawn Bowling Club, Heritage Greens, opened. Vivian started off her career by competing at Provincial and National levels for several years, then qualified and finally competed and won on the International level at such prestigious events as the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta, USA where she won a silver medal for Canada, along with the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, where she won another silver medal. She has continuously competed in International Blind Lawn Bowling events since then and had even earned the ranking of the World's #1 Female Total Blind Lawn Bowler on several occasions. Berkeley also won the gold medal in the Women's B1 (completely blind) Singles at the 2008 and the 2009 Blind Bowls Association of Canada (BBAC) Nationals in Windsor, Ontario. Berkeley returned with a silver medal from an International Lawn Bowling Tournament in Sydney, Australia in 2009 and attended an International Lawn Bowling Competition for the Blind and Physically Disabled in Israel in May 2010, coming home with the silver medal. Vivian attended an International Bowls for All Disabilities Tournament in South Africa in 2011, where she added to her medal collection with a silver. Vivian has since competed in several tournaments and was the Nationals in Kitchener, Ontario in July 2011 and most recent at the Nationals in St Catherines, Ontario. In late 2017, Vivian Berkeley officially retired from International completion.
Personal life
Berkeley was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. She received her primary and secondary schooling at the Halifax School for the Blind, in Halifax, Nova Scotia where she graduated in the mid 1950s. She is married to Richard, has 2 children (Laura and Michael), and one grandchild, Samantha.
Vivian has participated on several boards/committees within the Region of Waterloo including: Block Parents, Fire and Safety Committee, The Royal Canadian Legion, Lions Club of Canada, Lioness Club of Canada, Canadian Council of the Blind, and Blind Bowls Association of Canada (created by Berkeley for blind lawn bowlers in Canada). In May 2009, she was elected to the International Blind Bowls Association World Executive.
References
- ↑ "Lawn Bowls Overview". CBC.ca. 23 July 2002. Retrieved 25 May 2014.